Kamis, 18 April 2013

Diamonds-get educated! Diamond Education for the rest of us

Unless you’ve done the research, it is difficult to know what constitutes a “diamond”. We’ve all seen the chick flicks where someone rattles off the “four C,” but what does it really mean? Let’s go through one of four C.

The first C, cutting actually says two things about the stone. First, it tells you the basic shape of the diamond. Examples of round brilliant cut diamonds, which is the world’s most popular cut, princess cut, which is a characteristic form of square or rectangle that originated in 1970. There are also marquise cut, oval cut, Emerald cut and other so-called “fancy cuts.” The cut also shows the proportions of the stone. Necessary equal proportions more fire and sparkle when the light strikes the diamond.

The colour of a diamond is, in essence, how rare is stone appear colorless diamonds are extremely rare. (And will cost the big bucks!) Although diamonds are present in more than 300 colours, of course, the vast majority of diamonds varies in color from colorless (D) close to yellow/brown (Z), and most are to D level, higher the price.

The diamond clarity grading tells how obvious all will be internal and external inclusions and defects of stone. Inclusions are natural chemical characteristics that occur during the formation of the diamond and can be thought of as “cravings”. Diamond value can be influenced by the number, type, location and visibility of inclusions. Clarity ratings range from F-FIF I1, I2, I3. Each diamond is different and a diamond of I2 may have inclusions that are obvious, while others may not be very obvious at all.

The carat weight of a diamond is the size. A stone of a carat is equal in weight to a hundred smaller units called “points”. A diamond of 50 points, for example, is the same as a half-carat diamond. Weight carat weight (pun intended) when determining the value of a precious stone, but the quality of the diamond cutting, color, and clarity are also very important. It is entirely possible to have a very cheap, great with visible clarity characteristics.

Nowadays many people have added a 5° C to the diamond quality scale for the cost, which is obviously very important as people try to quality diamonds at affordable prices. Choosing the best diamond for you means weighing all C and decide what is really important for you and your loved one. Is the size more than a factor of clarity and color? For many people this is the case, but others realize how diamond size decreases, you can increase the clarity and color and still stay within budget. Might be worth going for a slightly smaller with better clarity and color. The bottom line is that you really need to know what will your budget and what is truly important to you (or your significant other!) before buying a diamond.